A touch of China has come to Mt. Lebanon.
Golden Fingers China Massage & Wellness Center recently opened at 460 Cochran Road. The shop offers several types of massages, including acupuncture point pressing massages and a sauna.
"We're different from other massage places. We offer a traditional Chinese massage," said Xiaoyu Liu, also known as Justin, who owns the shop, along with his mother. "All of our masseuses come from a Chinese medicine school and are licensed."
The business, located in a newly renovated building, is the third the family opened after Liu's mother, Li Hong, opened Li Hong's China Massage in Marshall nearly seven years ago and another location in Lawrenceville, which has since closed.
He hopes to open another shop in Monroeville soon.
After he was born in China, Liu, who is in his mid-20s, grew up in Amsterdam before coming to the United States six years ago. His mother, who doesn't speak much English, moved to the Pittsburgh area after living in San Diego.
As owner of a Chinese massage business, Liu said he has to fight negative, misleading stereotypes about his business.
"Even now, people call -- they want to know if we offer 'anything extra,' " Liu said. "It really makes me mad. I've seen those places. That's not us. We're professional."
He showed off a photograph of his mother with Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox, who is a client of the Marshall location.
"I get people with sports injuries, all kinds of aches and pains and people who can't sleep," Liu said.
Prices range from a $13 10-minute chair massage to a $129 two-hour full body massage.
Still, local residents were surprised to see a Chinese massage business in Mt. Lebanon.
"I admit, I didn't know what to expect at first," said Muriel Fritsch, 73, who lives behind the shop. "As of now, it's OK."
A.J. Drexler, who is co-owner of Big Picture Communications, located half a block away, said it's a business like any other.
"The fact that people are even raising the issue shows that they don't understand what therapeutic massage is," Drexler said.
